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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 27, 2005
Contact: PJ Callahan, Board of County Commissioner's Office
Phone: 360-337-4481
No. 05-14
County Commissioners Briefed on
Critical Areas Ordinance
PORT ORCHARD, WA—The Kitsap County Board of
County Commissioners will be briefed by the Department of Community
Development (DCD) on Monday, November 7, 3:00 p.m., at Presidents Hall,
Kitsap County Fairgrounds. The November 7 meeting, which was originally
intended as a Public Hearing, will now offer the department an opportunity
to brief the board on the details of the Proposed Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO).
The board originally had hoped to be at the point where
they could hold a public hearing on November 7, but they are still waiting
for the Planning Commission to complete their recommendations to the board
via the DCD.
“While this is a difficult process, this is the law and
the penalties will cost Kitsap taxpayers real money,” said County
Commissioner Chris Endresen.
Under the State Growth
Management Act (GMA), jurisdictions are required to review their
Comprehensive Plans and development regulations, including the CAO, every
seven years. The first deadline for the seven-year compliance review,
including completion of the CAO, was December 1, 2004. Under the GMA, if a
jurisdiction did not meet this deadline, it was subject to financial
sanctions, including certain state grants, loans, pledges or financial
guarantees. In 2005, the state legislature amended this provision to allow a
one-year extension for all GMA jurisdictions before sanctions are imposed,
so long as a jurisdiction could show that it was making substantial progress
toward compliance with the deadline. Which means, Kitsap County now has
until December 1, 2005, to review and approve its CAO before financial
sanctions are imposed.
The proposed CAO was developed through an extensive
public process that engaged citizens, scientists and other stakeholders. The
First Public Draft of the CAO was completed in June 2004. Throughout the
summer of 2004, DCD presented the CAO to the Planning Commission and
interested groups for input. Public Open Houses on the CAO were held in
August 2004, a science panel was held in October 2004 and CAO Community
Roundtable Public Input Meetings were held in late 2004 and early 2005. In
May 2005, the Second Draft of the CAO was released for review and comment,
followed by CAO Public Forum in August and a Planning Commission Public
Hearing in September, which was continued to October 18.
“In light of the Planning Commission canceling their
October 26 meeting, we sincerely hope they can reach agreement on at least
the major issues of the proposed CAO by the November 1 deadline requested by
the board, so we can fully understand their recommendations,” said County
Commissioner Jan Angel. “Regardless, however, we are mandated to review and
adopt the CAO by December 1, 2005.”
A public hearing will be scheduled for later in
November.
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